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DSE rumor mill – 6/4
By Zach Arnold | June 4, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Last Thursday, judge Timothy Williams in Clark County, NV. court denied without prejudice DSE Inc.’s attempt to dismiss (motion to dismiss) the lawsuit filed by Fishman Companies. Today, Williams also rejected DSE Inc.’s motion for a summary judgment in the case. Therefore, the path is now clear for Fishman Companies to start lining up witnesses for deposition and to proceed in legal action. This past Friday, the legal team for DSE Inc. filed for a ‘discovery commissioner’s report and recommendations.’ A critical question that has to be asked is how much Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta III paid in the end for the PRIDE assets from DSE Inc. That may determine the future course of action in this case. Furthermore, the Fertittas and Kirk Hendrick have already objected to a witness subpoena issued by the legal team of Fishman Companies for depositions.
We have had multiple sources in the fight industry at both the UFC 71 and K-1 Dynamite events claim that Yukino Kanda and Hideki Yamamoto (DSE US office bosses) were present at both shows. Plus, there was a reported sighting of Nobuyuki Sakakibara and his posse in attendance at the K-1 event in Los Angeles.
Topics: HERO's, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I have no doubt that the people mentioned in the article were at the K1 show. It justs make sense for all former DSE staff to make it in to watch the show to see how their former biggest competitor would do in a market where they failed.
Yeah, I am sure they were gleeful as K-1 crashed and burned for a couple million dollars…
ugh. Hopefully that fiasco doesn’t set back MMA a couple years in the U.S.
This has been said many times before, but I think that it lends credence to the UFC as the only game in…well, period.
K-1 tried to go big from the start, instead of working their way up to big shows. Maybe they should hae started to do some medium to moderate sized shows with stronger (and by stronger I mean more concrete) cards. Maybe something similar to what Strikeforce is doing.
good to see DSE bosses staying involved and interested in the MMA business
wasnt it tanigawa who joked about giving Sakakibara a job in Heros. that would be a dream team of promoters, Tanigawa and Sakakibara. The Japanese versions of Vince McMahon and Don King getting together
K-1 just aimed too high. I think there may be potential for the organization but it needs to get its act together quick. It needs to get organized, attract some big fighters, pick a venue “its size”, and most of all americanize.
There were a lot of complaints about the show in general especially the DJ. The event doesn’t need to copy the UFC but the UFC is big for a reason: they understand the market. K-1 came in thinking MMA is big there, lets take advantage of it. MMA is averagely popular when it comes to resonating with fans. It is the UFC itself that is huge and it is carrying the sport on its back.
As I see it the UFC and WEC are the top 2 organizations which will have the most success in the US with Elite XC and Bodog likely next on the list. These orgs at least understand the culture but they haven’t quite perfected their promotions just yet. I think the UFC is the only ones who know exactly how to capitalize and the other events (particularly the japanese MMA orgs like Pride, K-1, and others) are just lagging behind and will need to catch up fast or they’ll be left in the dust.
I think that it is safe to assume that a promotion from Country A does not how to promote in Country B…that much is becoming evident. When the UFC went to Japan, or K-1/Pride coming to America, neither was able to adapt to or even understand the new market that they were trying to reach. Pride did an ok job of it in America, but I think that they were doomed even before their American shows.
The key to success is getting to understand the market that you are going to exist in and finding out the best overall way to connect 100% with that audience.
At least the Pride USA shows had decent fights as well as big names. I went to Pride 33 in Vegas and it was an awesome show. Truly awesome (I went to Pride 34 in Tokyo…not nearly as good) Sure, maybe the Pride USA shows didnt make money and werent as popular as a UFC show, but the fighters and fights were infinitely better than what was put on by K1.